Meet the Forte team!

Colleen Middleton is the owner and director of Forte Twirl and Dance Studio in Atlanta, Georgia. She brings over fifteen years of experience as a baton twirling coach, with certifications from the United States Twirling Association and a judging license with the National Baton Twirling Association. She is also certified to teach the Acrobatic Arts curriculum. Colleen was Majorette Captain in the University of Georgia Redcoat Marching Band and grew up competing as a member of the world-championship team, Wheaton Dance Twirl Team. In addition, Colleen is presently the Twirling Coordinator for the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket Marching Band. 

Colleen has been coaching the Forte competition baton twirling team since 2015, with several national championship team and individual titles accomplished along the way. In addition, Colleen has a B.A. in Public Relations and an A.B. in History from the University of Georgia and has experience working with several prominent Southeast brands, like Chick-fil-A and Coca-Cola. Colleen and her husband live on the westside of Atlanta with their lovable pup, Maggie. 

Priyasha Bhatt began dance training in Savoy, Illinois in 2002. After graduating from training programs in Ballet, Tap, Jazz and Acrobatics, Priya transitioned to teaching/training in 2015 before going to the University of Illinois. After graduating with her Bachelors in May 2021, she moved to Georgia and started performing backup for musical artists in Atlanta. In addition to actively performing as a jazz/heels/contemporary and hip-hop dancer, Priya is heavily involved in Forte's acrobatics program and teaches several Acro classes throughout the week. ​

Christiana “Chrissy” McLeod Horn is a movement educator, artist, and archivist in the Metro-Atlanta area. Originally from Augusta, GA, Christiana actively engages with dance creation, creative direction, dance filmmaking, and pedagogy in the professional realm after receiving her Bachelors' in Dance Performance and Choreography with Summa Cum Laude distinction from Spelman College. Christiana has toured nationwide training in contemporary modern dance forms, and received much of her formal dance training under the tutelage of former Garth Fagan principal dancer, Sharon Skepple Mayfield. Christiana has years of experience studying and teaching ballet, tap, jazz, West African, hip-hop, liturgical and step dance forms.​

Ryan Turnipseed is a native of Spartanburg, SC and is currently residing in Atlanta while pursuing a career as a professional dancer. Ryan's passion for dance and performance has been part of her spirit since she first began dancing at age three. For the past 18 years, Ryan has studied Ballet, Jazz, Contemporary, Hip-Hop and Improvisation. Ryan has been a competitive dancer for 10 years, earning numerous overall top placement awards, scholarships, and awards for choreography in both regional and national levels. She has worked professionally in TV and Film, in addition to traveling with the Dancemakers Convention as an Assistant Demonstrator for two seasons. Ryan's goal is to train, learn, create, teach and improve, while continuing to chase her dreams of doing what she loves as long as possible. She hopes to inspire others to do the same. ​

Victoria Wood began her dance training in 2009 at Impact Dance of Atlanta, where she danced until 2012. She continued her training (concentrating on Ballet) at Atlanta Academy of Ballet and Dance during the school year until graduating in 2016. During the summers, she trained at Orlando Ballet and Cincinnati Ballet. In the fall of 2016, Victoria joined a new professional ballet company, Ballet SouthEast for one season before moving on to teach. Victoria found her passion after teaching her first class. She is happy to be back in the studio and excited to be part of the Forte team.

Courtney White is a native of Virginia. After graduating from Meredith College with a BA in Dance, she performed as a dancer and character performer at the Walt Disney World Resort for three years before attending The University of North Carolina Greensboro for her MFA in Dance. Courtney is now an adjunct faculty member at Meredith College and is the lead instructor and choreographer for the Carolina Preserves Dance Company.  She serves as the Alumni Advisor and Recruiter for the Wolfpack Majorettes at North Carolina State University and is a certified judge with the National Baton Twirling Association. Courtney is a remote instructor at Forte during the week but travels to Atlanta on weekends to co-Direct several of Forte's competitive teams. 

Clay Middleton is Forte’s Business Manager and you can usually find him working the front desk during class. Clay spent 10 years in Management Consulting and traveled to audit healthcare systems all over the US before Colleen introduced him to the world of Baton and Dance. He officially joined the team in 2021 and focuses on the business side of the studio. Clay brings a B.B.A. in Business Management from the University of Georgia in addition to his two left feet. Go Dawgs. ​